The Rage of the Dragon Warrior
by SwedishEmperorThe1
Summary: Amongst the ruins which used to be his childhood village, the Dragon Warrior finally learns about his forgotten past, but the revelation comes with a heavy price. The pain and the lose causes a darker side to reveal itself in him, and he declears vengeance upon the peacock warlord who took his family away from him, leading to events that will consume all of China in war.
1. The Dragon Warrior's Revelation

He felt tiny drops of water relentlessly falling down on his aching head, and he opened his eyes up, just when one last drop fell on his forehead, awaking from his unconsciousness. Feeling rather dizzy, he stared up at the near-rainy, thundering, dark clouded sky above him, and then he looked down to see an open grassfield surrounded by a distent forest. He also saw a wooden floor beneath him, belonging to the seemingly ruined house he was lying inside.

He wondered where he was, or what this place was. He wondered why he was lying here, with half of his body covered in bandages and acupuncture needles, right in the middle of the wildness. Last he remembered, he was inside that factory, facing the new weapon and its spit of fire and metal before everything went black. He curiously turned his head to the left to see a figure in front of a cauldron above a small fire, its back facing him. He recognized the figure, and his body froze in silent anxiety, not even daring to breathe. He recognized its colourful robes, its old, hunching stand, and particularly its curved, thick horn that pointed out of the figure's right side.

The figure was no other than the old goat advisor to that pale peacock.

Po Ping, the Panda Dragon Warrior, stared anxiously at the goat's back before he tried to silently crawl away. He suddenly stopped when it looked like she heard something, not daring to move another inch. Thinking that she'd turn around anytime soon, he pretended that he was still unconscious, letting his body drop without giving out any sound, opening his mouth and letting his tongue out.

He laid like that for barely two seconds before he turned his head around to see if the old goat still had her attention to the cauldron, only to see the said goat's frowning face right in front of his. Panicking, he cried out and impulsively jumped up, trying to escape, but the aching pain stopped him before he could even get up from the floor. Po moaned in pain before he saw the goat handing out a bowl of soup to him.

Suspicious of the old goat's intention, Po started:

"Yeah. Like you can make me drink th...", but he was interrupted by the goat when she suddenly put another needle at his forehead, causing his mouth to open up by itself. She then forced the soup down in Po's mouth and took away the needle, causing his mouth to close and swallow the soup down to his stomach. The soup didn't taste that good, so Po made a moan of disgust while the old goat returned to the fireplace.

"If I wanted you dead..." the goat started, ignoring Po's moan. "...I would've left you in that river," she finished with a matter-of-factly tone.

"Why save me?" Po asked as he pulled out one of the needles from his head, wondering why she'd save an enemy of hers from certain death.

"So you can fulfill your destiny," the goat answered him.

"What are you taking about?" Po asked as he pulled out another needle from his head. "Where am I?" he then asked as he sat himself up and looked out at the grassfield and the ruins habituating on it. "What is this place?"

"I'm surprised you remember so little, but you were so little when it happened," the goat answered him, her tone suddenly remorseful, as Po listened intensely, while he pulled the needles out of his body. He then suddenly clutched his head as he heard screams inside it, causing him to cringe and cry out in terror. Despite that the screams only appeared in his head for barely a moment, they were enough to shock Po so that he dropped himself to the floor and crawled to the end of it, as if he tried to get away from something that was haunting him.

"Perhaps you do remember," the goat said as she saw the panda's panicked reaction.

"No what, it's just a stupid nightmare," Po quietly said, as if more to himself than to the goat.

"Nightmare...or memory?" the goat asked.

Po paid attention to what she just said, as if he was considering her words. He looked down at the poodle beneath the ruin, and tried to remember the forgotten past he'd repressed from his consciousness. Suddenly, his reflection on the poodle was replaced by that of a smiling and laughing panda cub. The cub smiled his mouth open and laughed happily, as if he was happy to see Po. The surprised Po turned his eyes away from the poodle and looked at the abandoned village again, and from his memories he no longer saw the ruins, the dark clouds and the lifelessness, but a prosperous and alive village beneath a sunny and beautiful sky. He saw young children of his kind running across the fields with kites, laughing in joy, and he saw farmers doing their chores. He also saw a couple in front of him, looking at him with love in their eyes. The male was a big and bulky man, his body formed by a lifetime of manual labour on the fields, and he wore only brown pants that were slighty worn down and patched-up, and a stripped belt around his waist that was yellow and brown in colours. On his right shoulder he held a basket full with radishes, and in his left hand he held a long farming tool. The female was also rather bulky, which was only normal for their kind, and she wore a simple light brown dress and a striped belt around her waist that resembled like that of her mate.

The female waved to him and then pointed up to the sky. He looked up and saw the kites hovering gracefully in the sunny sky, giving it the beauty worth a poem. Like a flock of beautiful birds, the kites caused him much awe and made him feel warmth, as if a feeling of nostalgia from a more innocent and wonderful time appeared inside him. He could almost feel himself dancing with the kites in the wind, as those wonderful feelings made him feel a spiritual weightlessness that could help him reach toward the very stars of the night sky themselves and witness their glory first hand. To think that something so simple like a child's toy made of sticks and fabrics could awake a such strong emotional side in him, when he'd seen far more complex things in his life that hadn't awaken any of the emotions he felt now by witnessing the glorious dance of the kites, was amazing.

He turned his eyes away from the kites and he suddenly saw himself as a cub, happily laughing in innocent, childish joy, carrying a panda doll in his right paw and crawling clumsily toward the couple, who clearly were his parents, the very same ones he'd forgotten about so long time ago. He then returned back to reality as he walked out of the ruined house and out to the grassfield, staring at the ruined village with a mourning kind of curiosity. Meanwhile, his unlikely savior was telling him about the past of the village.

"This was a striving village. Young Shen was in line to rule Gongmen City, but he wanted more. I foretold that someone would stand in his way. A panda," she said as Po slighty turned his head to her in surprise. She continued. "But I never could've foretold what came next," she finished as regret painted her words. Suddenly, Po cringed as he heard a baby's cry inside his head, and then he was back at the flashback, but it was much different now. Instead of a prosperous and striving village under a beautiful sky, he now saw a burning village under siege by an army of wolves. He saw the peacock warlord giving out his soulpiercing cry, wielding his zigzagged spear high, as his army ran toward the village like a horde of crazed beasts. He saw himself cowering and crying in fear, hugging his doll in a tighter hold, as he was surrounded by flames. Suddenly, he saw the peacock warlord in front of him, with two wolves at his side, and the peacock looked back at him, his bloodred eyes glaring at him with bloodthirsty ruthlessness, and no compassion or empathy behind them. The peacock's tail feathers revealed themselves to their fullest size as he pointed toward Po and shouted out...

"Get them all!"

And then the pair of wolves ran toward him with their jaws wide open, with their razor-sharp teeth shining like knifes, and their soulless eyes glittering with endless hunger for death and slaughter, making the pair look like demons comming out of the fiery pit of Hell itself, out to consume the very life as they knew it and drag it to the eternal damnation. The panda cub stared with wide eyes in sheer terror as the pair was soon about to feast on him, with no way to escape, when suddenly, his tall and fearless father stood protectively in front of him and slammed his farming tool right at the wolves, causing them to fly back to their shocked master, who tried to avoid them as they forcefully hit the ground.

"Take our son and run away! Go!" his father ordered to his mother, who picked up the cub and then ran away from the burning village along with other survivors. His father continued to stand his ground, ready to give his family and the others time to escape from the crazed maniac and his thugs. But as his mother ran, the cub accidentally dropped his doll, and he could only stare helplessly as it rolled toward one of the burning houses and was then buried by falling woods.

Back at the reality, Po searched through some fallen burnt wood, and he found his old doll, blackened and dirty but still whole. He stared at it for a moment before he cringed again as he saw the dreaded, bloodred sun that was the peacock's symbol of choice and then his mother seemingely abandoning him to his fate for one second before he was back at the reality again. After that horrific flashback, Po was breathing heavily in shock as the revealation was overwhelming.

"Stop fighting. Let it flow," the old goat encouraged him while he was trying to recover from the shock. Po heard her encouragement, and he stopped his intensive breathing in order to reflect. With a calm but sad look, he looked up to the dark, rainy sky in an attempt to calm his raging emotions down, and he looked at it for a short moment before he turned his eyes at his doll, the only remaining thing from his childhood. He then gently put it down at the ground before he looked up again. In the calm silence he remembered the wise words his old kung-fu master gave him before he went out to his journey, and through them he got back the determination that helped him to endure the grueling training. A determined look replaced the sad one as he knew that this was the moment he'd find his inner peace, and he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and concentrated. Through his other senses and a deep look into his spiritual mind, he could feel the world's lifeforce gracefully dance around him in waves, and he started to move his body with it, his eyes still closed. After a moment, he felt the lifeforce sending one of its raindrops to him, and he used his spiritual connection to catch the raindrop with his paw.

As he caught it, more of his forgotten memories emerged, and he saw his mother running into a snowy forest with the infant him still in her arms. He saw that dreaded symbol infesting itself on the trees and spreading its bloodred marks across the forest like a parasitic plauge, relentlessy pursuing them like a tireless force. Behind his mother he saw a wolf chasing them, its mouth wide-open and all its sharp teeth hungry for flesh, and its eyes soulless and devoid of all mercy.

He was rolling the raindrop around his hands, moving it around like the waves of the lifeforce, his eyes still closed. And he continued to see his mother desperately running away from the savage wolf. At one point, she nearly tripped over by the snow. The wolf saw it as an opportunity, and jumped toward her and tried to bite her, but she dodged him before he could get her, and the wolf landed unceremoniously on the snow. His mother continued to run into the forest, as the wolf's reinforcement arrived and began to chase her as well.

She managed to run fast enough to distant herself from her pursuers, and soon she came across a cart filled with boxes of radishes. Seeing the opportunity, his mother went to the cart and laid the infant him in one of the boxes. As she did it, the environment lost its snowy white and dreaded red as a goldenness appeared and surrounded the pandas. When the infant was put down, he gave a small, childish moan, as if he was wondering what his mother planned to do now.

Back in reality, Po's eyes finally opened as he stared sadly at nothing, knowing that this was the moment when he was abandoned. He could still see his mother in front of him. She backed slowly away from the infant, her face filled with sadness and worry. For the infant, it looked like she was abandoning him so he started to fearfully cry for her, as a way to tell her not to leave him. However, she neared to him as she hushed kindly to him and took his paws, trying to comfort him. It helped, as the infant's worry gave away to his love for his mother, knowing that she'd never abandon him. She then gave him a kiss on his forehead and fondled his cheeks. When she did it, the happy infant said his first word ever in his life, which was a simple "Ma". It was a short word, but it was enough to break his mother's heart, as she knew what she'd to do next. She held her son's tiny arms as long as she could, knowing that this was the last time she'd ever be with him. Through all this, a golden area was shining around her, bringing light and warmth to this otherwise dark and cold place. For the infant, it made his mother look like an angel, a creature of love and beauty.

But his mother couldn't spend anymore time with her son. She finally backed away and ran up the snowy hill with tears steaming down her eyes. The infant started to cry again, but she forced herself to ignore him, knowing that if she went back to him now, he'd die. She saw their pursuers and made herself visibly to them by jumping and waving her arms, getting their attention away from her son. The crying cub then saw his mother turning around and running away, disappearing behind the hill, with, to his horror, the wolves and their peacock master chasing after her like a pack of hungry dogs. He cried even harder, since it was the only thing he could do, as he was now alone and defenseless in this dark, cold forest. He was crying for his mother, begging for her to return to him, hoping in vain that she'd listen.

But she didn't come back. Instead, he heard something that would make his blood freeze in terror. Something that would stab his soul like the sharpest sword. Something that would change the very future of the cub, and through him the very future of China itself.

He heard his mother's bloodcurling scream.

The memory went away, and Po was back in reality, shocked out of his wits. For a moment, he though that he'd accept his horrific past and find inner peace like Master Shifu did, but now after what he'd witnessed in the flashback, any link to inner peace was shattered like the most fragile glass, broken and ruined for all time.

The raindrop missed the newgrown plant Po had aimed at. It ran down between his fingers and hit the ground, splattering its liquid form across it before it disappeared in it, buried and forever lost.

The Soothsayer, who'd stood back and watched when the panda's memories were releashed from their burial, walked toward the young panda as he sat on the ground, overwhelmed by the horrible memories. She could cleary see that he was in deep emotional pain, and her heart was bleeding deeply for the poor boy. He didn't deserve to suffer the horrors he'd been through in such young age and then relive them decades later. She felt great remorse for putting him through this, but it'd to be done if he'd to fullfill his destiny and stop Lord Shen's madness from causing more suffering. Only by remembering the pain Shen had caused him could he truely understand why Shen must be stopped.

When she was near the poor boy, the Soothsayer knew that he needed comforting support and she was about to give him some comforting words of wisedom when suddenly, the panda stood up, his back still facing her. When he stood up, something in the Soothsayer told her that something was wrong with the panda, and not because of his grief but of something else. Something malicious.

Her instincts were confirmed when his fingers clenched into hard fists, his breathing became deep and growling, like that of an enraged bull, and his shaking muscles tensed to their fullest size, making him look as twice as big than he already was. She could feel a storm of negativity raging inside the boy, just wating to burst out at the world with all its might, and she became frightnened of what the panda would do next. Nervously, she asked:

"What will you do now?"

The panda turned around to face her, and when they locked eyes, she was absolutely terrified by his downright murderous look. His face was plastered with a hateful sneer that showed off all those sharp teeth that looked like they were ready to rip flesh right out of the bones, and the face itself had that ugly and twisted grimace that reflected nothing but hateful anger. But what was the worst were his eyes. They'd that piercing look that seemed to belong to a starving falcon. They'd that desire for vengeful, flesh-tearing carnage, and seeing that in the boy's eyes caused her throat to choke. They were burning with volcanic fury, boiling and bubbling in all-consuming hatred, causing the panda to look like a crazed animal that was desperate to kill. Nothing but madness reflected from those eyes.

It reminded the Soothsayer of Lord Shen's eyes. That same look in them...that same insane bloodthirst...any hope she'd for the panda was crushed like an egg, and now she was terrified of that her well-intentioned attempt to help him might have created a beast of vengeance.

"It's simple. I'll make that peacock regret that day he murdered my family. That's what I'll do next."

That cold, sinister tone sent chills through the Soothsayer's back, and she could barely breathe, so terrified she was. She knew it'd be painful for the panda to relive his past, but she hadn't imagined that his pain truely ran so deep in his heart, and her misguided attempt to help him had only awaken a vengeful beast from its deep slumber. She could only dread what he'd do to Shen once he get his paws on him, and there was no way she could reason with the panda now, as the desire for revenge had already twisted its claws too deeply in him. But she tried to come up with something that could discourage him from seeking revenge, but nothing came. She just couldn't speak with the terror on her back. It was like if it'd frozen her voice.

"I thank you because you saved my life, but I'll warn you: don't get in my way. I'll kill that peacock and make him pay for what he'd done, and I'll count anyone who'll try to stop me as my enemies, and I won't show them any mercy as well. After what they'd done, they don't deserve any."

And then the panda walked pass her and into the forest toward Gongmen City, leaving her alone at the ruined village. After her fear calmed down, she looked down at the doll, which was innocently sitting on the grass. She picked it up, looked at it for the short moment and then held it close to her chest. She closed her eyes and gave a small prayer to the heavens that they'd show mercy to Shen...because the panda would not.

* * *

AN: So here's my first chapter to my _Kung Fu_ _Panda _fanfiction, and as you could read at the last part, this's going to be one of those revenge fics. I kind of got this idea after I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 and wondered what would happen if Po became vengeful after the big revelation? I bet things would've ended more violently than how the movie did. So now I'm trying to write this down, along with my other ongoing fanfic, _The Chronicles of the Digimon War_. If you've time, than please read my Digimon fanfic and my Darkwing Duck fanfic, _The True Face of Insanity_. The first one is about a massive war between humans and digimon, with the Digidestined caught in the middle, and the second one is about the rise of Darkwarrior Duck through the pov of Negaduck. I bet you're going to love them.

Please review, follow and/or favorite this fic. It'd make me really happy :)


	2. First Blood

On the mast belonging to a ship deep within Gongman City hung the Furious Five in chains, broken, weakened and defeated after the battle inside the factory. A burning torch caught their attention, and to their grief they saw two individuals standing before them. One of them was an one-eyed wolf, who was holding the torch and watching them with both contempt and amusement. He was the pack leader of the wolves serving the other individual standing next to him. That individual was no other than the infamous Lord Shen, the pale peacock lord of Gongman City, himself.

"Such sad, sad faces," Shen said mock sympathetically as he walked toward his captives, an amusing grin on his beak betraying his true emotions. He couldn't help but enjoy seeing these strong warriors broken and in despair, and his heart was beating with pride knowing it was his own doing. The only one still defiant was the tigress, who glared at him with fierce hatred.

"But now it's time only for joy. You're going to be part of something _beautiful_," he finished, saying the sentence next to Tigress' ear in a mocking tone of comfort. Once he moved back to face her, Tigress gave a growl of contemptuous and defiant hatred to him, and if it weren't for the chains, she would've ripped him apart for what he'd done, but in the situation she was, her defiance only amused Shen even further.

"Once we reach the harbour – in front of all the world – you and your precious kung fu will _die_," Shen said to Tigress and then gave a short chuckle as he turned his back to her and her companions, and faced the city.

"Then China will know to bow before me," he finished in a whisper, as if he said that more to himself than to his captives. As if he couldn't comprehend that the moment he'd waited and worked his whole life for was finally at hand; the moment than China would fall before his might.

"Set sail!" Shen shouted to his followers, who immediately did what they were ordered to. The sails were released and the ship began to move. The Furious Five cried out as they were pulled up in the air to be hung further up.

The citizens of Gongman City had to endure a lot of hardships since Shen's coup, as their new lord was a cruel and merciless one, and his wolves were bloodthirsty sadists who enjoyed pulling their weights around. Life was hard and tough, and many, if not most, of them had found themselves barely able to scratch off a living, as their new lord hadn't only taken all their metal, but also almost all of their food and money, and shared it amongst his wolves. The citizens were wishing for the times when their great city was ruled by the wise and fair peacocks, and they were griving the lose of Master Thundering Rhino, who gave his life trying to protect them from Shen's wrath.

But despite all this, they tried to live the best they could, and tonight it was no exception. The citizens were entertaining themselves with shadow plays, board games, books, toys, whatever the could use to forget the hard times if only for a moment, or they were doing the everyday chores to focus their minds on something else but their lot in life. But tonight wasn't like any other nights. Tonight they'd witness something out of the ordinary.

On the river running across the city, strange _things_ seemed to move past the houses with silent might, casting their dreadful shadows on the houses and colouring the air flaming red. The shadows looked like dragon heads, and their fearsome appearence caused the citizens to gasp and stare in fright of their monstrous forms. But as they were frightened, the citizens were also curious of what was moving across the river like silent beasts, and they looked out toward the river, only to see something breathtaking.

A massive fleet, made of dozens, if not hundreds, of war ships moved across the river toward the harbour. The decks were full with wolves looking toward the harbour with hungry eyes, excited for their comming mission. They were holding torches that were burning with red flames and maintaining the ships and their cannons. And at the back of the fleet was the greatest ship of them all, easily oversizing twice the size of any other of the ships, and its red sails had the symbol of the black sun; the symbol of Lord Shen, as the ship indeed was the peacock lord's personal flagship and its massive might caused awe in all who witnessed the fleet's voyage. Shen himself stood at the quarterdeck and looked toward the harbour with determined eyes. He knew that out there where his soon-to-be empire and he'd conquer all of it until there would only be his rules, his laws, his subjects, his kingdom.

At the near front of the fleet hung the Furious Five high up in chains that were connected to the masts of the ships moving next to each other; an obvious display of Lord Shen's might and a warning to those who would oppose him. Grief and despair had consumed the warriors, and they hung limply like broken dolls, all sense of fight and spirit gone. They'd failed. They'd failed the mission, failed their master, failed China itself, but most importantly, they'd failed their friend, so what left was it to fight for? This was the punishment they'd to endure for allowing their friend to perish by the hands of a monster.

"Well guys, I never thought I'd die like this. I always thought I'd meet a nice girl and settle down and...and she'd eat my head. So sad," a depressed Mantis said to his fellow warriors, trying to loosen up their grief, but sadly, didn't have the strength to pull it through.

"We cannot give up hope. Po would want us to remain strong, hardcore, right? Tigress?" Monkey said, trying to lift up the spirits of his friends and continue the fight Po had given his life for. He hoped he'd get support from Tigress, as she was Po's best friend, but sadly, Tigress didn't answer. She remained silent, too consumed by grief to answer Monkey. She stared down in despair, thinking about Po. How could they keep fighting if all that was worth fighting for no longer exist? Po was dead, blown up into pieces and his remains splattered across the land. That aweful memory deepened the wound in her heart, and she closed her eyes to keep the comming tears away.

Further down the river, a bridge was in the way of the fleet, and on the bridge stood curious bystanders who stared at the fleet with awe and fear.

"Lord Shen, what about the bridge?" the one-eyed alpha wolf asked, wondering what they'd do about the small hindrance.

"Nothing stands in my way," Shen answered coldly, and the wolves immidiately got the hint. They aimed the cannons at the bridge and prepared to fire them, ignoring the distressed cries of the bystanders.

"FIRE!" Shen shouted to his wolves, and they fired the cannons. Flaming projectiles shot out and started to obliviate the bridge. Fortunately, the panicking bystanders were able to get away from the fire as they ran for their lives, and none of them were caught in it. But the sheer callousness was enough to shock the Furious Five out of their despair, and Tigress found some strength to turn around and shout toward Shen in righteous anger.

"You coward!" she shouted toward Shen, who just smirked in amusement as the cannons continued to fire at the bridge until nothing remained. The shocked Tigress turned her eyes back at the scene, and she caught a glimpse of someone standing on the roof belonging to a tall, distant building. She thought the person looked familiar so she looked harder. The others also caught look of the person and tried to see who it was. The person was awfully familiar, and they couldn't believe they were seeing who they thought it was.

"Po?" Tigress asked.

Indeed it was Po standing at the roofs, staring down at the fleet with determined, hardened eyes. With his face plastered with a determined frown, his back and shoulders held straight up and his fists clinched tightly, he looked like a warrior who had fallen in battle but now had returned from the dead to finish the war once and for all.

"Po?" said the other Furious Five, and now everyone looked up to see The Dragon Warrior staring down with fierce, burning eyes, like a divine force judging the righteousness of petty beings below its eternal might. For the Furious Five and the citizens of Gongman City, Po's near miraculous return gave them hope that this battle wasn't over and that now there was a chance to free Gongman City from the tyranny that had caused the once proud city's decline. For the wolves, Po's return filled them with dread and anxiety, as if they were now facing a living, vengeful force of nature that they couldn't even begin to comprehend. For Shen, Po's return caused him to have a temper tantrum.

"How many times do I've to kill the same, stinking panda?" Shen asked himself, his body shaking with fury to the point of spasming and his mind reaching a nervous breakdown.

Po glared down at the massive fleet, seemingly unmoved by its dreadful might. Before, he might have been awed by its size, but now looking down at these soulless beings and their ungodly weapons ready to destroy China itself caused his disgust for each of these creatures before him to tighten its hold over his heart. He looked for any weak point there he could strike first and then get close to Shen. But in his observastion, he saw his friends hanging in chains up the masts like some demented trophies, and seeing them in such humiliating, sickening display deepened his hatred toward Shen more than it already was. Any tinest amount of doubt he had for what he'd be doing next was crushed like glass, and with a sneer he roared out directly to Shen.

"Shen! A panda stands between you and the world! Hear me, _peacock_, that all your attempts to get rid of me have failed and now I'm standing here, ready to stop your madness from harming more lives! I'll only say this once, surrender now and I'll make your fate quick! If you know what's good for you, you better take me offer, or it'll be less than pleasant for you!"

Shen was at first taken by surprise by the panda's sudden harshness and hostility, as he knew him as a clumsy, clownish buffoon of a panda and a living parody of Kung Fu. But then he thought that the panda was just taking big words with little real threat behind them. After all, the panda was just an amusing satire of the Soothsayer's prophecy, and at this point, all advantages were with him.

"And what exactly do you plan to do to me, _panda_?! I'm rather curious of what half-baked idea your tiny brain has managed to come up with, considering that intellect isn't exactly your strongest side! Please enlighten me if you'd be so kind!" an amused Shen shouted back to the panda, challenging him to make his next move.

Po's mouth twisted into a wide grin as he'd hoped that Shen would say those words. Now he'd an excuse to cut loose and show the peacock and his foul, stinky followers that they picked the fight with the wrong panda.

"Watch and learn!" Po shouted, and he took off the straw hat he wore. He drew back his arm, and then threw the hat with all his strength toward the fleet.

The hat flew toward the fleet, spinning in a speedily manner. All eyes were on it, everyone wondering what was Po's plan and what role the hat would play. With the physical strength that had thrown it didn't take long before it hit its target.

It hit the throat of one of the wolves.

The surprised wolf gasped when the hat hit his throat, but he felt no air comming down to his lungs. Shocked, he stared down to see the hat thrusted deep into his throat, and he saw blood running down to the deck, forming a small pool of red liquid before his feet. It took him a moment to realize that his throat had been slized open, and when he did, it didn't take long before the panic came, as he found himself unable to breathe, as he was being chocked by his own blood.

The panicking wolf desperately tried to take off the hat, but he found it difficult to get a grip on it. His fellow pack members, who'd stared in dumbfounded shock at the gruesome scene, tried to help him to take it off. When they managed to do so, the blood was gushing out massively, and it caused the wolf to panic further more, which in turn caused his fellow pack members to also panic as they desperately tried to stop the massive bleeding.

But the wolf's life couldn't be saved. Soon he stopped trembling and rasping, and went silent. His limbs went loose, his eyes rolled back and he fell down dead to the deck, his body landing at the pool of his own blood.

Everyone stared at the scene in silent shock, unable to believe it really happened. One of the other wolves saw the straw hat lying at the deck and picked it up. He saw that under the straw hid a circular blade running at the sides. To him, it looked like an Indian chakram. He wondered how the panda managed to make such a deceiving weapon to kill one of his fellow pack mates, but he didn't have the time to speculate as he heard an angry cry screaming for aim.

The reaction had been what Po had aimed for. He'd hoped that the dumbfoundedness from the wolves would give him the opening he needed for his attack, and as they tried to help their comrade, he used the opportunity to quickly run and jump down the buildings and toward the fleet. By the time Shen cried to his wolves to take aim at him, he was pretty much already before them. The wolves didn't have the time to follow their master's order before Po made one last jump and landed on the ship nearest him.

He landed on a couple of wolves who were too slow to move away, and they were crushed like bugs by Po's extreme body weight. Those close could hear the bones snap and break like twigs, and see the blood come out of the mouths of the crushed wolves. But before anyone could counterattack, Po was already on his way, running and jumping by the wolves, ignoring them as he ran toward his real target.

"What are you staring at?! Attack him!" Shen roared to his wolves, angry that the panda had the _audacity_ to attack his magnificent war machine head on. The wolves snapped out of their dumbfoundedness and ran toward Po like snarling, hungry beasts. Po realized he'd to fight his way through before he could get to Shen, which he actually didn't mind at all. Killing off some wolves would only be a favour he was doing to the world, and he'd love to see the fear on Shen's face as his stinking pets were being slaughtered one by one, unable to save him from Po's wrath.

The wolf nearest Po swung his sword at him, trying to revenge his pack mates by slashing the panda through, but Po caught his arm and with a kung fu move he twisted it, forcing the wolf to release his sword. Po caught it and the first thing he did with it was chopping the wolf's head off. The corpse hadn't even began to bleed before Po cut down another wolf. And so it went, with Po slashing and stabbing his way through the wolves, leaving piles of dead and limbless corpses behind him. Blood was gushed, limbs were chopped off, throats and stomachs were slashed open, screams of pain were cried out, and corpses fell down en masse. The panda seemed to be unstoppable, like an archdemon of war fighting through an army of mere, pathetic mortals.

During the bloody fighting, one of the arms that had been chopped off flew up to the masts. On its hand it still held an axe, and Tigress immediately knew it could help her free herself and her friends from their chains.

"Monkey! The axe! Take the axe!" she shouted to Monkey, who moved his long tail and managed to catch the axe as the dead hand lost its grip of it. Monkey swung his tail behind their backs and over their heads, and hit right at the chains around their center, breaking their hold of them. The now free Furious Five quickly used the chains to swin to Po's side, who the wolves were trying to overwhelm by sheer numbers. The wolves were piling down at Po, trying to use their collective mass to crush him, but the Furious Five landed next to them and they used their strongest offensive moves to throw the wolves away from Po. They formed a protective circle around him, keeping the wolves away from him.

"Uh...impressive, Dragon Warrior," said a rather unsure Tigress as she gave a quick glance at Po, who was covered with blood. "What's your plan?" she asked.

"Simple. We kill Shen, and anyone else who stands in our way," answered Po coldly, shocking his friends as they stared at him with wide eyes, not believing that he actually said that. One wolf saw this as an opportunity and he ran past the shocked warriors to attack Po, but Po was quicker than him and he thrusted his sword right through the wolf's open jaw. He then draw his sword back and used his other arm to punch the wolf away, killing him immediately. The body landed next to Viper, who eeked in alarm. Po then ran foward, leaving his shocked friends behind, not even bothering to wait for them, and continued the slaughter.

Po and the Furious Five fought on with everything they had, and as the wolves were being beaten back by their superior fighting skills, they were getting closer to Shen. But as the Furious Five fought the wolves off, they couldn't help by become disturbed by Po's way of fighting. While they fought off the wolves hand-to-hand, with at worst breaking a few bones there and there, Po kept slashing his way through like a Norse berserker. The Furious Five soon found out that the fighting was getting difficult, as the decks were getting slippery due to the carnage Po left behind him. But the intense fighting kept them from thinking any deeper, and most of their concentration were on the battle.

Po, meanwhile, was not at all disturbed by what he was doing. In fact, by this point, he was actually _enjoying_ himself. Seeing the wolves getting killed by his own hands granted him grim satisfaction that he'd never felt before. It was like if he was a being of superior might, an unstoppable force that couldn't be tamed, and this feeling of superiority was reinforced by each wolf that fell to his blade. His heart was beating with excitement when his sword thrusted into soft flesh, cut off the meekly limbs, and extinguished the most precious of all things. The smell of blood intoxicated his mind and senses, and it was a rush to see the light in their eyes extinguished forever and the despair on their faces before darkness took them. It was glourious, it was beautiful, it was blessing in its finest form. In this battle, Po knew this was the life for him, and drunk with bloodthirst and rage he kept on slaugthering the wolves with a demented grin on his lips.

Po heard a roar behind him, and thinking it belonged to a desperate survivor, he turned around to kill it, but to his surprise, he saw Master Storming Ox himself. With a mighty kick, he'd thrown the surviving wolves behind Po away, and now he faced the surprised panda. Then out of the river jumped no other than Master Croc up to the deck, landing next to Master Storming Ox, both ready for battle. But what they weren't ready for was a blood-covered Po surrounded by corpses, and they soon stared at the panda in dumbfounded surprise.

Po's own surprise turned into contempt, as he hadn't forgotten their refusal to help him fight Shen.

"So you decided to come, huh. What changed your minds?" he asked venomously, a sneer plastered on his face.

Taken aback by Po's open hostility, the masters hesitated in answering him before Master Storming Ox nodded his head toward the further front of the fleet.

"Your friend there...he's very persuading," he answered rather anxiously, and Po could see the surviving wolves at the further front getting pushed away by an agile force running toward the group. Before he knew it, he saw Master Shifu himself joining the battle, using the late Master Oogway's staff to beat the wolves into submission. As fast as the wind, Master Shifu ran around the group and beat the remaining wolves surrounding them away.

"Quickly! Use that boat to block the way!" Master Shifu ordered to the group as they faced the harbour, which was now closer than ever.

"Well you guys can do that, but I'm still going after Shen," said Po, seemingly unfazed by his master's arrival.

"Po, this's not the time to argu..." Master Shifu began before he stopped himself, as he turned around to face Po, only to see what looked like a savage, monstrous, barbaric mockery of him. His eyes widened in shock as he saw Po bathed in blood, and he found himself lose of words, not believing what he was seeing. Then he noticed the corpses surrounding around specifically Po, and chills crawled through his back as he realized that Po was the one who caused all these death. He looked at Po's eyes, and what terrified him the most was that behind them, he saw no remorse. In fact, they were beaming with primal bloodthirst and deeprooted hatred, as if they belonged to a wild, savage beast drunk by its lust for power and carnage.

As if they belonged to Tai Lung.

Master Shifu hardened himself and put up his familiar disciplinarian front. He looked Po right at his eyes, and began to order him like always, while trying to not let that darkness overtake him.

"Listen Po, we'll stop this fleet from reaching the harbour, and that's final!"

"Well, if that's what you want to do, it's fine with me, but I myself have something more importent to do, so later," Po said rather disrespectfully, and then left the group to continue his rampage.

"Po!" Shifu shouted after him, but Po didn't listen. Shifu could only stare in shock at Po's back, unable to believe what Po just did. The equally shocked group looked at Shifu and wondered what his orders would be now. Would they stop the fleet from reaching the harbour, or would they go after Po?

"Block the way! Stop the fleet from reaching the harbour, and hurry! We don't have much time!" Shifu ordered once he caught back his composure. Right now he'd a mission to think about and a warmongering megalomaniac to stop, so he'd to confront Po about his radical behaviour later.

The group immediately began to put the plan in work. Tigress ran with all her strength toward the cannon stationed at the right-sided leading ship, and with mighty kicks she pushed the cannon to the front, and its weight caused the ship to tip over. The stern was lifted up from the water and rolled over until its aft landed on the harbour gate, blocking the way out. Tigress herself had jumped up on the aft and waited for it to land. Once it did, she gracefully landed on the harbour gate's mid section.

Master Storming Ox was pulling the mast ropes of the ships he was standing on, each foot on each deck, and tried to cross the sails with each other. When they were crossed enough, he called out for Crane.

"Crane! Now!"

Crane flew above the sails and high up to the sky. He then turned around to face them and with a loud avian cry he flapped his wings with all his strength, creating a strong gust of wind that caused the ships to slam right into the blocking ship. It soon created a chain reaction as the ships behind crashed into each other, stopping the fleet dead on its tracks.

"What?" a surprised Shen said, wondering why the fleet suddenly stopped. Before anyone could answer him, his enemies attacked once again his troops. Frustrated by the setback of his excellently well-made plans and his wolves' inability to stop the attackers, he cried out;

"Why aren't we firing?!"

"They're taking out our gunners, sir! They're getting close!" answered his one-eyed second-in-command.

Shen looked toward the battle, and he could clearly see that his wolves were losing. But while the wolves were fighting the others, they were now backing away in fear from the panda, who at this point looked more like a deranged butcher than a clownish buffoon. The panda had left behind him so much carnage that the wolves didn't dare to fight him, and those few who did were slaughtered immediately by him, and he did it without so much as give them a glance. As Shen watched, he found himself staring right at the panda, and chills went through his back when he realized that despite the battle, the carnage and the distance, the panda was staring right back at him, like if he was all the panda could see. But the true terror would come when Shen saw the sneering smirk and the eyes burning with hatred, all of it aimed directly at him. The panda's deranged smirk seemed to mock him for his setbacks, but when Shen locked eyes with the panda, he could see all rage that drove the panda to commit such slaughter, and he felt a piercing sense of coldness as he gazed at those hateful pits. The panda seemed to know about Shen's unease, because his smirk wided further, and based on the small in-and-out chest movements, he was chuckling at him.

It was than Shen realized that the panda wasn't there to stop him, but to _kill_ him. All the wolves that were killed by the panda's paws...just small hinderences, nothing else.

"F..F...FIRE! FIRE AT THEM!" Shen shouted to his second-in-command, now actually panicking for his life.

The wolf boss turned around to face the battle, uncertain what to do. He saw all his pack mates doing the best they could to keep the attackers away, but it wasn't enough. Firing the cannon next to him might get rid off the attackers, but his pack-mates would likely get caught in the fire as well, and he questioned if Lord Shen's order was really the right way to follow.

"But sir, it's your own!" he said to Shen, trying to reason with his lord for the sake of his pack-mates. Unfortuantely, his lord was in such panic it only caused him to snap further.

"I! SAID! FIRE AT THEM! FIRE!" Shen shouted at his second-in-command, so consumed by his own terror that his already flawed mind refused to listen to reason. And he'd every rights to be terrified since the panda was now not that far from his flagship, soon about to claim his life, and his wolves still refused to defend him from the panda's wrath.

The wolf boss was battling an internal struggle on what choice he'd take. He really was between a rock and a hard place, as the choices he'd were not in the favour of his pack. If he followed Lord Shen's desperate order, he might get rid off the attackers, but some of his pack-mates would perish as well. If he refused to follow the order, than likely all of his pack-mates would be killed by that savage panda, and everything they'd struggled for would be for naught. One could argue the first choice would be the lesser of two evils, but some of his pack-mates would still die, and the idea that they were killed by him, their pack-leader, went against the strong sense of pack loyalty all wolves instinctively had. He just couldn't see himself do it.

But as he gazed upon the battle, he saw the carnage that the panda had created. He saw all of his pack-mates – his brothers – lying on the decks on pools of their own blood in sickening, distorted positions, with limbs and other remains everywhere. Seeing all this caused his anger to rise within him, and he then glared with so much intensivity toward the _monster_ who murdered so many of his pack-mates that he might have caused the panda to flame up. All these wolves were his friends and family; good, loyal and hardworking people who some he'd known since cubhood. People who he'd shared much hardships and tough years out in the wildness with, and this was the cruel and gruesome fate destiny had for them? No, this wouldn't go unpunished. The panda would pay with his life, and his murdered pack mates would get their revenge. But he debatted again what to do, trying to ignore his lord's desperate cries while he did it. Maybe it was because of those cries, or perhaps it was because his anger caused his mind to not think clearly, but he decided to start the firing. He reluctantly lowered the torch at the touch hole, silently asking his pack mates to forgive him and try to understand that he did what he'd to do.

After fighting his way through the army, Po was right in front of the peacock's flagship with the only some few cowardly and terrified wolves between him and his true prey. He was about to slaughter his way through them when he saw the weapon at the flagship starting to fire up, aimed directly at him. So close as he was to it, he knew that he likely wouldn't get away from it in time. It was only a matter of seconds before that hard-hitting projectile would turn him to smush, but Po wouldn't give up that easily. If he was going to die, he'd take the peacock down with him, so as the cannon was about to fire, Po swung his sword-wielding arm back and was ready to throw his bloodied sword at his target.

"PO!" He heard Tigress screaming, and he felt her push him away as the cannon fired. The massive projectile torn its way through the blockade, leaving firing destruction behind it and reducing much into burning ash, and then exploded with a great force, reducing the harbour gate into ruins and opening the sea to the fleet, or what was left of it.

Out of the destroyed harbour came out the fleet, which remained only of Shen's flagship and twelve other ships, and it was already on its way to the open sea. Around them, pieces of the destroyed ships were floating on the water, and by one of those pieces jumped a being out of the water and grabbed it for its dear life. That being was a tired and exhausted, by still alive Po.

Po caughed as he clung to the floating piece, his body exhausted and his head spinning and pulshing in aching pain. It felt like if someone had smashed a hole through his head with a hammer, or like if his brain was pushing at his skull, trying to burst out of his head. But at least the pain told him that he was still alive, and that was enough to put him in an optimistic mood. He chuckled to himself, glad that he wasn't finished yet. He still got a chance to claim his revenge, and that was all he counted on. But it was a close call, he realized. If Tigress hadn't pushed him aside, then that game would've ended before it even began.

Thinking of Tigress killed his mood, and fearful of what he might see, he looked out at the water around him to see if his friends were also still alive. He saw all of them lying unconsciously on other floating pieces, unaware of the ships sailing past them, ignoring them for the greater prey. At one small piece he saw Shifu lying barely conscious and looking at him with tired, half-shut eyes. On another, larger piece he saw Crane, Ox and Croc lying unconsciously together, though Ox showed some weak movements and was perhaps slowly awakening. Last he saw Tigress lying unmovingly and alone on another floating piece, and worried that she might be hurt or, Heaven forbid, worse, he paddled toward her, forcing himself to ignore the pain that was screaming in every fiber of his body. He internally prayed to whatever divine force that could hear him that she was alive, because if she was dead too, he'd rip Shen's spine right out of his back with his bare paws.

"Tigress", he wispered to her in concern, hoping she'd open her eyes and show him any sign that she was still alive. He took hold of her paw and awaited for she to answer him, to tell him that she still was with him in this fight. When he took her paw, his touch seemed to awake her from her unconsciousness, and she opened her eyes and saw Po in front of her. Her face was twisted with pain and despair, and she was struggling with both her breathing and to remain conscious. At first, she fearfully stared at Po, having not forgotten the slaughter he'd made. But when she looked into his eyes, she saw that the warlike beast was now gone, and it was the caring and compassionate Po she knew that was before her, trying to comfort her in her pain. Easied and glad by that at least she hadn't lost Po to whatever darkness that just recently used him as a living weapon of war, she gave him a weak smile, and it in turn made him smile weakly as well, glad that she still was with him at his side.

But Tigress' pain was relentless and it wouldn't let her moment with Po stop it, so with a vengeance it attacked her system, and she didn't have the strength to resist it for even one more second, so with one last glance at Po that was full with regret and despair, she fell back to unconsiousness.

Po's smile fell as Tigress became unconsious again, and his mind went mad with worry. He lighty shook Tigress, trying to wake her up. She couldn't go down on him when he needed her the most, not now, not ever. When she didn't wake up again, his worry turned to anger. He became angry at that Tigress had to end up hurt just to save him. He became angry on how she almost didn't make it. He became angry at himself for causing her this pain in the first place, since if he'd moved aside like he should've done, than she might haven't had to suffer for his sake. But most of all, he became angry at Shen. That freak of a peacock had really screwed up this time. He wouldn't let Shen get away with this, not after he'd nearly killed Tigress. He'd get that peacock, rip his blackened heart right off his chest, and bring it as a gift to Tigress.

He angrily torn his eyes away from Tigress to look where that freaking peacock nutjob was so he could tear him a new one. He saw that before the harbour where no ship left, only the floating pieces his still unconsious friends were lying on. Alarmed that Shen might have gotten away, he turned his head around toward the open sea, and there he saw them; the entire fleet sailing away, leaving him and his friends behind for their true designation. The fleet was way ahead, and it was clear to anyone watching the event from the harbour that Po and his friends had failed to stop Shen from beginning his campaign to conquer China. But Po wouldn't let that feathered coward get away that easily, so he jumped off his floating piece and began to swim after the fleet. By his hatred for Shen alone he swam, soldiering on through the pain and exhaustion for the simple goal of vengeance. After all the evil deeds Shen had committed in his mad desire to enslave all of China, Po refused to let him get away just because of some hurt, and he'd get that peacock, denying for himself that his effort was already futile.

Po continued to swim, despite everything, and went far enough to reach the open sea itself, with the harbour way behind him. But Shen's fleet was still ahead, and it seemed to speeding further away from him, so in angry desperation, Po began to call out for Shen.

"Shen! Come back and face me, you cowardly worm of a peacock! Face me Shen! Come back and show me if you're man enough to fight me! Shen! Shen!" Po roared out with all the anger he had, demanding Shen to come back and face him.

At his flagship, Shen found it difficult to calm down his nerves. The carnage the panda had caused amongst his troops had shaken the peacock down to the core, and his mind was still in a wild panic. The panda was this close to put an end to his life-long ambitions, and he couldn't comprehend how much of a warlike monster the panda had suddenly become. It was like if he became an entirely different creature, as if that buffoon from before was replaced by a savage barbarian, and through him, Shen had stared death right in its eyes and only at the last second did he slip from death's cold blade.

In an attempt to calm his nerves down, Shen was thinking to himself that the worst was over, and now only victory was waiting ahead of him. It was his destiny to rule China, and nothing would deny him that, so no matter what the panda did to stop him, his efforts were doomed to fail. Yes, China would soon be his, and that thought nearly calmed him down before he heard distant shouting from behind. He nearly jumped up in fright and surprise as he heard them screaming his name, demanding his attention with enraged authority. Icy creeps went through his back as the shouts became more feral and desperate, almost as if they belonged to a wounded animal defiantely crying at its bane, and Shen was nearly trembling as the panda continued to howl at him. It wasn't until when the cries became more distant that Shen could start to feel at ease again. He closed his eyes, took deep breaths and concentrated on slowing his racing heart down, and slowly he felt himself at ease again.

He opened his eyes and looked toward the sea, now sure that all opposition was behind him. So confident he was that his beak formed the same arrogant smirk from before. Now, nothing could stop him.

But then he noticed some wetness at his left cheek. Curious of what it was, he touched his cheek with his wing and then looked down at it. He was surprised by that the wetness was warm, sticky and red, and it took a moment before he realized that it was blood.

His eyes widened in shock as he continued to touch his cheek, not sure if it was real. He found that as he was touching it, stinging pain began to consume it, and chills went through his back when he felt something soft and slimy. His heart nearly stopped when he realized that what he was touching was his own flesh, and the blood on his wing came from his own body.

Shen was nearly panicking when he realized that his cheek had been slized wide open, and as he held his wing at his bleeding, paining cheek, his thoughts went wild trying to figure out how it happened without him realizing it until just now. He began to replay the battle in his mind, trying to find the source. He remembered the panda's sudden appearance, his allied reinforcements, the carnage, the explosion, the panda staring dead at him, ready to pull one last trick before meeting his fate...

Sensing a dreadful feeling in his spine, as if something was glaring at his back, Shen turned his head around toward the entrence of his quartiers, and right there, at the left side of the doors, hung the panda's sword, blood dripping from its edge and down to the deck. The very same one he'd thrown at Shen. It silently mocked the wide-eyed peacock, reminding him how close it'd nearly taken his life, and that it was but luck alone it'd failed to cut his head off and nail it right at the wall. Reminding him if it wasn't for the tigress pushing the panda just in time...

The remainder of his own mortality caused Shen to hyperventilate and tremble in sheer panic. Never in his life had he ever felt such soulconsuming terror before. Like a powerful storm it came, the terror that threatened to crush him with its might. His heart was beating like a war drum as the panic was consuming his very soul, tearing fiercely what little of his sanity he'd left apart into pieces. The terror was drowning his mind, dragging it into the depth of the endless sea that was his insanity, and Shen felt his grasp of reality disappearing. The trauma was so overwhelming that he felt like he'd soon fall into a comatose, and despite his hyperventilation, it felt like his terror was slowly suffocating him, strengthing his panic even further.

"Lord Shen, is everything alright?" a voice asked Shen, and he faced his second-in-command, who was staring at him worryingly from the deck below.

"Yes, eveything is alright. Nothing to worry about", Shen said as he tried to put up a facade of confident calmness. If the wolves saw him having a panic attack of something petty as a cheek cut, they'd think him as a weak leader, and amongst wolves, weak leaders didn't last long, and Shen had come too far to let his dreams being crashed by a coup of his own followers.

"Are you sure? Your cheek is bleeding quite a lot", the one-eyed wolf said, not really believing his lord's ensurence. The cheek was indeed bleeding a lot and needed immediate medical attention. He hoped that his lord would've some sense enough to let a medic fix it.

"I said everything is alright! Just keep the fleet ahead!" Shen cried out, thinking that the wolves were perhaps baiting him to admit his weakness. If so, well they wouldn't fool him that easily.

"As you wish, Lord Shen", the lead wolf reluctantly said, knowing better than argue with his master, and so the fleet continued its voyage in silence, the wolves working hard under the harsh gaze of their wounded but determent peacock master.

* * *

AN: so here is my second chapter after this long wait. I apologize for it. The reason why it took so long is because I'm studying history at the university of Stockholm, and it's proven to be a highly time-and-energy consuming work. I hope those of you following this fic can understand it and the wait it causes.

To Fanfictionlover2013: Thanks. Well, here is the first fight scene. Hope you like it.

To Fan: Thanks. I will, but as said, it might take time for each chapter.

To The Dark Hound: He sure is ;)

To Guest: Thanks

To Guest: I know :p

To strawberry0929: When I've the time and energy to do so. I hope you can understand why it takes so long for me to update now.


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